Olivia Newton-John and Smokin' "Grease" Catsuit Are Back

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Long before she sang wink-wink sexual lyrics in "Physical," Olivia Newton-John was a pure-as-snow country singer. That all changed when she joined the cast of 1978's classic musical "Grease."

Even now we're still feeling the vibrations of that ground breaking movie, which has been re-released in select cites as "Grease Sing-A-Long."

Newton-John's appearance as Sandy-gone-bad in the leather catsuit is still smoking today, but it doesn't have quite the social impact that it did when the movie first came out. It was really big stuff in 1978 and beyond.

John Travolta's greaser character Danny loved it onscreen once he got over the shock. The rest of the world loved it as well and, after "Grease," Newton-John was able to move away from her clean-cut image for the first time.

"(That suit) opened up a whole new realm of possibility for me," Newton John tells PopcornBiz. "It opened up a lot of doors."

"Until that point I did have this girl-next-door image," she adds. "It was great, but I would have never have gone into these other films I did after 'Grease.' "

The rest is showbiz history. If you need an indication of Newton-John's star appeal even today, you don't have to look any further than her hilarious appearance with Jane Lynch on "Glee." And "Grease Sing-A-Long" could build into something special.

In fact, the big question might be, what took so long? Newton-John says she remembers "watching the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' and thinking we should do that with 'Grease.' " It has the groundswell of love and the infectious songs to keep it going for a long time.

Just as long as they don't dare remake the film.

"It's one of those things that you just shouldn't mess with," says Newton-John.